Partly reversible auditorium

ABSTRACT

A large auditorium is partly formed by a floor plate obliquely inclined relative to the horizontal and centrally mounted for rotation about a vertical axis on a base by means of a hub from which lattice girders radiate toward the periphery of the floor plate. Rows of seats on the floor plate face toward the lowermost part of the periphery while a wall approximately semicylindrical about the axis of rotation rises from the uppermost part of the floor plate periphery. The floor plate may be turned 180* into a position in which it is separated from the stationary remainder of the large auditorium by the semicylindrical wall and constitutes a smaller auditorium of its own.

States Pate 1 i 1 [451 Aug. 6, 1974 PARTLY REVERSIBLE AUDITORIUM [76]Inventor: Hans Tax, Potsdamer strasse 3,

Munich, Germany [22] Filed: Nov. 28, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 310,139

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data 2,700,798 2/1953 Perrottet 52/103,399,501 9/1968 Rossman 52/10 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 60,8073/1913 Austria 52/9 Primary Examiner-John E. Murtagh Attorney, Agent, orFirm-Hans Berman [57] ABSTRACT A large auditorium is partly formed by afloor plate obliquely inclined relative to the horizontal and centrallymounted for rotation about a vertical axis on a base by means of a hubfrom which lattice girders radiate toward the periphery of the floorplate. Rows of seats on the floor plate face toward the lowermost partof the periphery while a wall approximately semicylindrical about theaxis of rotation rises from the uppermost part of the floor plateperiphery. The floor plate may be turned 180 into a position in which itis separated from the stationary remainder of the large auditorium bythe semicylindrical wall and constitutes a smaller auditorium of itsown.

3 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTED RUE 974 SHEH 1 0F 4 PMENTEB M13 6974 SHEU Q (If 4 PARTLY REVERSIBLE AUDITORIUM This invention relates toan auditorium of variable capacity, and particularly to a largeauditorium, a portion of which can be moved in such a manner as toseparate it from the remainder of the large auditorium and to constitutea smaller auditorium.

It is known to divide a large auditorium by partitions in order tocreate a smaller auditorium. It is also known to move portions of anauditorium in such a manner that a hall of smaller capacity is formed,but the known moving mechanisms are complex and costly, to build andoccupy much space that could be used more productively.

It is an object of the invention to provide an auditorium of variablecapacity which is simpler and less expensive in its construction,obstructs less usable space than the known devices, yet is reliable inits operation.

With this object and others in view, as will hereinafter becomeapparent, the invention provides a turntable including a hub portionrotatable on a base about a vertical axis, a floor plate having acentral portion near the axis of rotation and a peripheral portionradially remote from the hub portion, and a plurality of carriersfastened to the hub portion and elongated radially outward from the hubportion in angularly offset relationship. The carriers extend to theperipheral portion of the floor plate and support the latter. An uprightwall mounted on the turntable extends upward from the peripheral portionof the floor plate approximately about the axis of rotation and definesan opening directed radially away from the axis. Rows of seats on thefloor plate face away from the wall.

Other features and many of the attendant advantages of this inventionwill readily be appreciated as the invention becomes better understoodfrom the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment and ofmodifications thereof, when considered in connection with the appendeddrawing in which:

FIG. 1 shows an auditorium of the invention in fragmentary elevationalsection;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary top plan view of supporting elements of theauditorium of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a modified detail of a lattice girder in the apparatus ofFIG. 1 on a larger scale;

FIG. 4 shows yet another modification of the same girder;

FIG. 5 shows the turntable bearing and associated elements of theapparatus of FIG. 1 in elevational axial section on a larger scale; and

FIG. 6 shows a modified base and hub for a turntable in the auditoriumof FIG. 1 in a corresponding view on a larger scale.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, and initially to FIG. 1, thereis seen a turntable 11 set into a conforming pit in the fixed floor 12of an auditorium which slopes obliquely downward toward a nonillustratedstage.

A base 24 is arranged in the center of the circular pit 10, and anannular ball bearing track 23 on the base carries the hub portion 20 ofthe turntable 11, a polygo-.

nal pyramid whose top is cut off at an approximate angle of to thehorizontal. Lugs 21,22 arranged about the circumference of the hubportion near the ball bearing track 23 and the top of the hub portionrespectively attach the top and bottom beams of eight cantileveredlattice girders 19 to the hub portion 20. The top beams extend in aplane parallel to the oblique top surface of the hub portion 20 andsupport a floor plate 18 of reinforced concrete.

The floor plate 18 is of uniform thickness over most of its length andwidth and is elliptical in shape, the ratio of the major and minor axesof the ellipse being such that their orthogonal projections into ahorizontal plane are of equal length. A depending, peripheral rim 18' ofthe floor plate 18 thus appears as a circle in the view of FIG. 2, andthe girders 19 appear to be of equal length in the same view. They areattached to the hub portion 20 equiangularly relative to the axis ofrotation and taper transverse to their direction of elongation inrespective vertical planes as the top and bottom beams of each girderapproach each other in a direction toward the peripheral portion of thefloor plate 18.

A wall 14, semicylindrical about the axis of rotation of the turntable11, is attached to the rim 18' at the uppermost portion of the floorplate periphery. The bottom of the wall 14 is movably received in ahorizontal groove 15 of the fixed floor 12 which circles the pit 10. Thesame groove also receives the lowermost part of the rim 18'. The wall 14is held in its upright position by braces 16 connecting its bottom toseveral girders 19, only one brace being shown in FIG. 1. The weight ofthe wall 14 is balanced by a counterweight 17 attached to the lowermostperipheral part of the floor plate 18, more specifically, to a girdersupporting the lowermost part of the floor plate 18.

The wall 14 laterally bounds an opening directed toward the lowermostpart of the floor plate 18 and the non-illustrated stage. Rows of seats13, only partly indicated in FIG. 1 in order not to crowd the drawing,are arranged on the floor plate 18 and face the lowermost peripheralportion of the turntable and away from the wall 14.

As is shown in greater detail in FIG. 5, the ball bearing track 23 has atwo-part inner ring 26 provided with partly threaded vertical bores 25normally receiving non-illustrated heavy screws that fasten the twoparts of the ring 26 to each other and to the base 24. The two parts ofthe ring 26 provide annular races 28 for two vertically offset groups ofbearing balls 27. An outer ring 30 provides corresponding annular races29 for the two sets of bearing balls and is axially secured by the ballson the base 24, not itself seen in FIG. 5. Bolts normally received inthreaded bores 31 of the outer ring 30 fasten the hub portion 20 to theouter ring. The outer circumference of the ring 30 carries an integralgear rim 32.

Reverting to FIG. 1, there is seen an electric motor 33 mounted on thebase 24 and having a pinion 34 coaxially mounted on its output shaft.The pinion 34 mesheswith the gear rim 32 fixedly fastened to the hubportion 20, and the motor 33, when energized, turns the entire turntableassembly into a non-illustrated position'in which the wall 14 separatesthe floor plate 18 and the seats 13 thereof from the seats on thestationary auditoriumfloor l2 and the non-illustrated stage mentionedabove. In the alternative position of the turntable 11, the seats 13 onthe floor plate 18 face toward the right, as viewed in FIG. 1, andtoward another stage or the like that may be provided there, the size ofthe smaller auditorium so created being equal to the top face of theplate 18.

Because of the elliptic shape of the floor plate 18, the several girders19 must differ in length in order to reach to the rim 18'. It has beenfound advantageous to assemble all girders from a major longitudinalportion identical in each girder, and constituting the entire shortestgirder, and longitudinal extension pieces attached to the severalidentical major portions.

In the turntable illustrated in FIG. 1, the two illustrated latticegirders l9 consist each of a major longitudinal portion 35 of uniformsize and shape, and of an extension piece 36 welded to the girderportion 35 and connecting the same to an upper lug 21 on the hub portion20. In the modified girder l9 seen in FIG. 3, the basic girder portion35 is supplemented by an extension piece 37 at its narrow, radiallyouter end which provides greater length to the top and bottom beams ofthe girder 19' and includes cross members connecting the addedlongitudinal members. In the girder 19 shown in FIG. 4, an extensionpiece 38 increases only the length of the top beam.

Girders 119 more similar to each other in shape and size may be employedin the turntable arrangement partly illustrated in FIG. 6. The hubportion 120 of the turntable consists of two cylindrical portions ofequal diameter welded to each other in such a manner that their axesintersect at the angle at which the floor plate 118 is inclined relativeto the horizontal. The girders 119 which carry the plate 118 radiatefrom the upper part of the hub portion 120 while the lower part isattached to an annular ball bearing track 123 not significantlydifferent from that shown in FIG. 5 and equipped with an external gearrim 132 as described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 5.

As is evident from FIG. 1, the diameter of the track 23 is but a smallfraction of the length or width of the floor plate 18 so that thesupport 24, the hub portion 20, and the counterweight l7 occupyrelatively little of the pit 10. The pit is accessible through a door inthe portion of the structure cut away in the view of FIG. 1 and mayserve as a storage space or for other purposes.

While the invention has found a particularly advantageous application inan auditorium having an inclined floor, as illustrated, it is also usedto advantage in an auditorium having a horizontal floor. In such amodified arrangement, the floor plate on the turntable may be circular,but may be of different shape. It will also be obvious, that the floorplate 8 need not be elliptical to achieve the advantages of thisinvention.

It should be understood, therefore, that the foregoing disclosurerelates only to preferred embodiments of the invention, and that it isintended to cover all changes and modifications in the examples of theinvention herein chosen for the purpose of the disclosure which do notconstitute departures from the scope and spirit of the appended claims.4

What is claimed is:

1. An auditorium comprising:

a. a base;

b. a turntable including 1. a hub portion,

2. a floor plate having a central portion near said hub portion and aperipheral portion remote from said hub portion,

3. an annular ball bearing arrangement having a vertical axis, saidarrangement being interposed between said base and said hub portion,

i. said arrangement including two annular groups of bearing balls, andinner and outer ring means secured on said base and said hub portionrespectively.

ii. said ring means defining a pair of inner bearing races and a pair ofouter bearing races centered in said axis,

iii. the races of each pair being offset in the direction of said axis,

iv. said groups of bearing balls being retained in respective inner andouter races in axially spaced relationship,

v. said floor plate being obliquely inclined relative to said axis,whereby respective parts of said peripheral portion offset from saidaxis in opposite directions are uppermost and lowermost,

4. a plurality of carriers cantilevered to said hub portion andelongated radially outward from said hub portion in angularly offsetrelationship, said carriers extending to said peripheral portion andsupporting said floor plate;

0. an upright wall mounted on said turntable and extending upward fromsaid peripheral portion substantially about said axis, said walldefining an opening directed radially away from said axis; and

said lowermost peripheral portion of said floor plate.

1. An auditorium comprising: a. a base; b. a turntable including
 1. ahub portion,
 2. a floor plate having a central portion near said hubportion and a peripheral portion remote from said hub portion,
 3. anannular ball bearing arrangement having a vertical axis, saidarrangement being interposed between said base and said hub portion, i.said arrangement including two annular groups of bearing balls, andinner and outer ring means secured on said base and said hub portionrespectively. ii. said ring means defining a pair of inner bearing racesand a pair of outer bearing races centered in said axis, iii. the racesof each pair being offset in the direction of said axis, iv. said groupsof bearing balls being retained in respective inner and outer races inaxially spaced relationship, v. said floor plate being obliquelyinclined relative to said axis, whereby respective parts of saidperipheral portion offset from said axis in opposite directions areuppermost and lowermost,
 4. a plurality of carriers cantilevered to saidhub portion and elongated radially outward from said hub portion inangularly offset relationship, said carriers extending to saidperipheral portion and supporting said floor plate; c. an upright wallmounted on said turntable and extending upward from said peripheralportion substantially about said axis, said wall defining an openingdirected radially away from said axis; and d. a plurality of rows ofseats on said floor plate facing away from said wall and toward saidlowermost part.
 2. a floor plate having a central portion near said hubportion and a peripheral portion remote from said hub portion,
 2. Anauditorium as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a motor mountedon said base having an output shaft, a pinion mounted on said shaft, anda gear rim on said hub portion meshing with said pinion.
 3. an annularball bearing arrangement having a vertical axis, said arrangement beinginterposed between said base and said hub portion, i. said arrangementincluding two annular groups of bearing balls, and inner and outer ringmeans secured on said base and said hub portion respectively. ii. saidring means defining a pair of inner bearing races and a pair of outerbearing races centered in said axis, iii. the races of each pair beingoffset in the direction of said axis, iv. said groups of bearing ballsbeing retained in respective inner and outer races in axially spacedrelationship, v. said floor plate being obliquely inclined relative tosaid axis, whereby respective parts of said peripheral portion offsetfrom said axis in opposite directions are uppermost and lowermost,
 4. aplurality of carriers cantilevered to said hub portion and elongatedradially outward from said hub portion in angularly offset relationship,said carriers extending to said peripheral portion and supporting saidfloor plate; c. an upright wall mounted on said turntable and extendingupward from said peripheral portion substantially about said axis, saidwall defining an opening directed radially away from said axis; and d. aplurality of rows of seats on said floor plate facing away from saidwall and toward said lowermost part.
 3. An auditorium as set forth inclaim 1, further comprising a counterweight mounted on the underside ofsaid lowermost peripheral portion of said floor plate.